Invisible Words
by Syana Harper
Summary: A woman Navy officer is found in a dumpster and drugs are involved. Rhiana makes an appearance!
1. Chapter 1

NCIS

Special Agent Timothy McGee scoured through the files that were blinking across his computer. Typing faster than he anticipated, the virus exploded with fury and Tim cursed under his breath as the 'Game Over' sign flashed across the screen.

"Not so easy, is it?" Agent Linda Miller asked and McGee hung his head.

"No, it's not," he mumbled as Linda reset the game.

"Well, that's the whole point. It teaches you back doors around viruses that could initially cause serious damage to your computer. I'm glad you had fun, but it looks as if our break is over," Linda said as Gibbs walked over to them at the outdoor lunch table. Jethro nodded to Linda as she grabbed her laptop and left for the second building.

"McGee, what are you doing?" he asked and Tim raised an eyebrow.

"I'm on break, boss."

"We've been trying to get a hold of you for ten minutes," Gibbs protested and McGee finally removed his beeper from his pocket.

"Oh, gee, sorry boss. I was caught up in a game…"

"A _game_…?"

"Computer… virus… simulation…" Gibbs just kept an eyebrow raised. "I'm going right now," Tim said and the two walked to the main building, but not before Gibbs smacked McGee in the back of the head.

----

Stepping out of the elevator, McGee quickly grabbed his field pack and rushed back to beat the elevator doors. Looking at Gibbs, he didn't say anything as they headed down to the garage. "Seriously, McGee, you were playing a computer game?" Gibbs asked and Tim sighed; this was going to take awhile.

"Agent Miller is a computer analyst. She prepares people by having them try to beat a fake computer virus," McGee explained and Gibbs nodded as they finally reached the garage. Turning towards Tim, Jethro smacked him up side the head again.

"I don't want you playing computer games when we have a case to solve," Gibbs lectured and Tim rubbed his skull where it was starting to buzz from the abuse.

"Yes, boss," McGee mumbled and got into the SUV.

As they drove towards the crime scene, McGee thought back a few cases when he was with Agent Rhiana Stoller; she kept popping up in the most inappropriate times and Tony had almost caught him about ten times since then. A sudden stop propelled McGee back into the present as they pulled up to the crime scene.

----

Tony took a picture of the slender leg that was hanging from the dumpster. "If she had been alive, would you have asked her on a date, Tony?" Ziva asked and Tony shot her a dirty look; Ziva merely smirked at her success of taunting DiNozzo.

"Maybe, Ziva, but she's not my _type_," Tony retaliated and saw Gibbs walking towards them; Tony attempted to look busy.

"Having fun, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked and Tony took more pictures of the scene.

"Not really, boss."

"Then stop laughing." Tony's smile instantly disappeared as Ducky arrived to make an analysis of the body.

"This is going to be a difficult day, I can _smell _it," he said jokingly, creating a small ripple of laughter among the people who could hear him. The body was handed down to a gurney after Tony and Ziva had finished taking evidence pictures and Dr. Mallard inserted the liver probe through the skin. Humming and mumbling as he waited for the results, Ducky soon read the results to anyone who was listening.

"According to the liver temperature, our mysterious lady victim…"

"Well, not so mysterious anymore. I found her purse," Ziva announced and jumped from the dumpster with ease. "Her name is Tatum Ashby."

"Well, Miss Ashby, you apparently died around 7 hours ago. At least you aren't so _mysterious_ any longer," Ducky said and the body bag was zipped and Dr. Mallard signed off for the body to be returned to the morgue for further examination.

McGee circled around the dumpster repeatedly, looking at every detail. "Hey, I have a casing here!" he announced and took snapshots of the expended round. Picking it up carefully, he sealed it in an evidence bag and handed it to Ziva.

"Common weapon, perhaps nine millimeter," she guessed and cataloged the casing.

"Well, we'll find out soon enough. Pack it up," Gibbs ordered and everyone finished what they were doing and returned to their vehicles.


	2. Chapter 2

NCIS

The elevator doors opened and the team stepped out, Ziva and Tony already silently arguing with one another as McGee sat down at his station, ready to procure any information that Gibbs wanted him to look up; Jethro took a familiar stance, ready for the techno-jargon.

"Who's the victim, Ziva?" Gibbs asked and the Mossad liaison began talking.

"Her name is Petty Officer Tatum Ashby; she's from Virginia originally. She hadn't reported in for work a few days, so her friend, Mabella Evans, decides to check up on her and finds this," Ziva brought up the pictures of the dumpster, "She calls police and we're called in," she finished and Gibbs nodded.

"What about her current military status, can you give me anything?" Gibbs asked and McGee began typing rapidly; those lessons with Linda were paying off.

"She's currently on family leave; her mother died about a week ago," Tim said and Ducky suddenly appeared on the screen.

"Jethro, I have something that you need to look at immediately," Dr. Mallard said and Gibbs nodded towards the image as he began to turn away, slightly rushing towards the elevators that led to the morgue.

"Tony, interview the friend; Ziva, take McGee and look through Officer Ashby's apartment to see if you find anything!" Gibbs ordered and the trio merely looked at one another as their boss disappeared. Tony was the first to speak up.

"I get the hot body finder, that's so… _un-Gibbs _like," he admitted and visibly shivered. Ziva raised a smart eyebrow and laughed slightly.

"Would you rather have the dead officer's apartment or a live person to hit on?"

Tony shivered again.

"That's what I thought," Ziva said and headed towards the elevator, Tim close behind.

----

Jethro stepped out of the elevator, slightly anxious about what Dr. Mallard had to say about his autopsy results. "Ah, Jethro, so glad of you to join me," Ducky said and Gibbs smiled as he took a sip from his coffee.

"What'd you find, Ducky?" he asked and the doctor led him over the x-rays that had been taken of Petty Officer Ashby's body. Pointing to where the bullet had entered, Ducky didn't say anything as Gibbs eyed the x-ray.

"Execution style," he said and Ducky nodded.

"Yes, it had taken me a moment to realize this because of the damage the bullet had caused. The bullet," Ducky pointed to the x-ray and then his own neck, "had entered through the back of her neck and pierced the jugular vein. Our dear Tatum had bled to death within minutes of being shot."

"She could have survived being _shot_?" Gibbs asked, suddenly surprised.

"If she had been within two feet of a hospital, but there was little chance she would have come out of it alive," Ducky explained and went back to the body. Pointing to the victims knees, he pointed out they were scuffed. "I also found traces of gravel and dirt packed on her legs." Gibbs made the connection immediately.

"He had made her kneel." Ducky nodded again.

"A true gentlemen, if you ask me. There's not much else I can tell you Jethro," Ducky said and Gibbs merely smiled.

"That's all we needed to know, Duck," Gibbs said and exited the morgue.


	3. Chapter 3

NCIS

"I cannot believe we're stuck doing _this_," Ziva mumbled as they looked about the victim's apartment, searching for more evidence. Tim took a picture of the broken deadbolt lock; the flash alerted Ziva, but she continued working.

"Well, someone was in a hurry to get in here," McGee said and also snapped a picture of the dented door, hoping he could manage a boot print from it. Ziva snorted, picking through the drawers that were on the stand beside the couch.

"She had a lot of bills to keep up with, but I'm not seeing any late envelopes," Ziva said and saw a notepad at the back of the drawer. Fishing it out, she saw the first page was blank. "But this should end up interesting," she said and Tim made his way over to her to take pictures. Ziva tilted the notepad in the light and saw faint words scattered across the page. Attempting to read it, Ziva gave up and held it in her hands so Tim could take some pictures.

"Hmm, I wonder what this is all about," Tim asked himself and snapped a picture of it, hoping that Abby could lift the words off the paper. Ziva sealed it in an evidence bag and they moved onto the next room, which was the main bedroom. The bed was made and clean, the trash had been taken out, and there was nothing out of place; Ziva seemed quirked about it.

"She certainly liked things _tidy_." Tim looked under the bed and found a can of pepper spray.

"Well, not everything," McGee said and struggled to reach the small can. Having gloves on helped as it didn't make the slick can roll further away from him. Taking care, he brought it into the open and Ziva took the pictures this time.

"Do you think she had time to defend herself?" Ziva asked and Tony shrugged as he placed the can in an evidence bag.

"I think she would be alive if she had," McGee said and the two exited the apartment.

----

Tony sat across from Mabella Evans and smiled; she tried to smile back but was deterred by the events. "Hello, Miss Evans, my name is Tony DiNozzo, I'm here to clarify some information," he said and brought out a notepad. Mabella nodded and began her story.

"Well, Tate…"

"Tate?" Tony interrupted.

"It's Tatum's nickname, sorry if I confused you."

"It's fine, continue," Tony encouraged and Mabella nodded.

"Anyway, Tate hadn't come into work for a few days and we were beginning to get worried that something else had happened in her family. So, this morning, I went to her apartment to ask Tate if she wanted to go to breakfast. I had a key she had given me, but I noticed that the door was broken. I called the police and went to the street; it just happened I saw a leg hanging out of the dumpster. I almost passed out when the police arrived. I was brought here because Tate was a Navy officer," Mabella finished and sighed, tears threatening to spill down her face. Tony took notes and nodded.

"Thank you, _Miss_ Evans, for your time. We'll call upon you again if needed," DiNozzo said and Mabella nodded, left to her grief as Tony left the interrogation room to run into Gibbs.

"Did you get her statement?" Jethro asked and DiNozzo held up a notepad.

"Every word, boss," Tony said and Gibbs snatched the yellow pad away from Tony, looking it over. Giving DiNozzo glances now and again, Jethro finally handed Tony back the pad.

"Very good, DiNozzo," Gibbs said and walked back towards the main stations when Ziva and Tim walked by with evidence for Abby to process. The hurried look he saw on their faces made Jethro turn on his heels and return to the elevator to go to Abby's lab. Gibbs, Tim, and Ziva disappeared from site as Tony stood in the hallway, dumbfounded that Gibbs approved of his note taking, despite the doodles that littered the margin of the paper.


	4. Chapter 4

NCIS

Entering the lab, the three were greeted by loud music as Abby sashayed around the equipment; she was in her happy place again. Gibbs walked over to the stereo and stopped the music; Abby stopped dancing and turned to look at them. "Hey, guys! Do you have anything new for me?" she asked and the evidence was set onto the table for her to look at.

"What about Petty Officer Ashby's computer?" Gibbs asked and Abby turned back towards Bertha.

"She had some protected files hidden around her hard drive, but it wasn't hard to break them. It was as if she _wanted_ someone like us to find them," Abby said and opened a sample file she had floating around on the desktop.

"'Another source delivered the packages today. He's getting smarter. But I'm sure that Xavier is in on it'. Have you looked up that name, Abby?" McGee asked and sat down at one of the computers.

"Not yet, I was about to when you arrived with more evidence," Abby said and Gibbs raised an eyebrow, unconvinced of her honestly. "You want to help a friend out, Tim?" Abby asked and McGee smiled. Gibbs smirked at the instant teamwork that stemmed from being friends for so long.

"I'll be upstairs," Jethro said and Ziva followed her boss back to the elevators, leaving McGee and Abby to work. Tim was the first to get results.

"Wow, who knew there were so many people with the name 'Xavier' here on base, holy cow," Tim said and brought up a list so that Abby could see the information as well.

"23 people with the _last_ name and 12 people with the _first_ name Xavier? Tim, this could take forever to eliminate them from our list of suspects. Gibbs just doesn't have that kind of patience for _that_ many interviews," Abby said and McGee sighed; Abby was right, they didn't have that kind of time on their hands.

"Then I guess it is back to the evidence," he said and Abby sighed as she began with the pepper spray can.

----

Gibbs strode out onto the picnic area and saw someone sitting at the familiar table. Smiling, he made his way over and sat down across from the newspaper reader. Clearing his throat, the newspaper drooped and a familiar face appeared. "Oh, hey Special Agent Gibbs!" Rhiana said and folded her paper neatly. Gibbs placed a foam cup in front of her and Rhiana merely smiled, familiar with their little joke.

"How many is that now?" she asked and Gibbs smirked.

"Three," Gibbs said and took a drink from his coffee cup. Rhiana grabbed the foam cup and took a small drink before giving Jethro her full attention.

"So, how's Tim?"

"Fine; it's only been two weeks, Agent Stoller."

"I _know_, but Tim was so awesome when that happened. I'm just making sure you haven't smacked his brains out," Rhiana said and Jethro smiled gently.

"Not yet," he said as his phone began ringing. Rhiana frowned and knew what was going on.

"Another case?" she asked glumly and saw Gibbs' expression. "I'll see you another time then?" she asked and Jethro nodded. Standing, Gibbs walked away from the table, leaving Rhiana to her newspaper as he answered his phone.

"Yeah," he said and Abby started talking rapidly.

"Well, the pepper spray wasn't very helpful; I only found smudges on it. However, on the name, Tim found 35 people that shared that name, some with it as a first name, some last name. They're spread all over the base, and some are still deployed at sea." Gibbs took in the information.

"How many are still out at sea?" he asked and heard Abby typing rapidly.

"Sixteen of them; that leaves nineteen people still _on base_ that we have to interview," Abby said, disheartened at the news.

"I'll take care of it, Abby. Just keep processing evidence," he said and hung up the phone; he had some favors to call in.

----

Abby looked at the now dead phone in her hand and sighed; this was going to take forever. Looking at McGee, she removed the notepad and stared at it, a confused look upon her face. "Ziva saw words on it and hoped we hoped you could lift them somehow," Tim explained and Abby nodded.

"Okay," she said and placed the notepad in a machine. Attacking the paper with different wavelengths of light, the words finally popped out so that they could read them easily.

"'They're at the bar again. 10 o'clock. Must follow.' She was certainly determined to find out what these people were doing," McGee said and Abby removed the notepad from the machine, Abby placed it gently under a high power lamp and squatted so she was even with the table top.

"There is something on this paper…" Abby whispered and gently ran a swab across the surface of the document. Grabbing for a spray, she doused the swab in a chemical that turned the cotton a brilliant blue.

"Heroine…" McGee whispered and pressed the speed dial he had for Gibbs.

"_What, McGee?"_

"Boss, we found heroine on the notepad. I think there's a big reason why Petty Officer Ashby was murdered."

"_Well, do you have a theory on whether this 'Xavier' is male or female?"_

"They're definitely male." McGee made his way to a computer and typed in another filter. "That leaves twelve names, boss," he said and didn't hear a reply from Jethro. "Boss?"

"_Find where they're at and bring them in. _All_ of them."_ The line clicked closed and McGee stared at Abby, who waiting for him to say something.

"What did he say, McGee? I want to know!"

"Well, we've classified it down to twelve names. This has to be the work of a male officer. And the heroine you just found ups the ante for motive of Officer Ashby's death," McGee said and they stared at the file that had been protected on Abby's computer.


	5. Chapter 5

NCIS

Gibbs walked in the Director's office and closed the door behind him. "I'll have to call you back," Director Vance said and smiled at Jethro. "Please, Jethro, sit down." Gibbs took a seat across from the director.

"I need some favors, Leon," Gibbs said and placed Abby's findings of heroine in front of the director. Vance looked them over and gave Jethro a skeptical look.

"What's this about?"

"It's about the murder we're investigating. Petty Officer Ashby was onto something and she was following someone named 'Xavier' around to prove they were guilty. We're down to twelve possible names and I want to bring them in for interviews," Gibbs explained and Director Vance raised an eyebrow.

"You want to pull _twelve_ officers from their duties on base so you can interview them?"

"That's right."

"Why did you have to come to me?"

"Four of them are high ranking and can't get away that easily." Leon thought about the situation for a moment.

"I'll see what I can do, but the other eight you'll have to get yourself. You have 24 hours before I pull some strings. And if you find you're possible subject before I have to do this, let me know," Director Vance said and Jethro nodded.

"You'll be the first to know," Gibbs said and walked out of the office.

----

Gibbs walked briskly down the stairs to be greeted by Ziva and Tony. "Pack up, we have some investigating to do," he ordered and grabbed his gun and ID badge out of the right hand drawer of his desk. Tony and Ziva saw the action and copied it as the trio headed towards the elevators.

"Boss, you'll need this!" McGee suddenly shouted and handed him the report of all of the officers that had the name 'Xavier'. Nodding appreciatively towards McGee, Gibbs finally stepped into the elevator.

"Why is it always about drugs?" Ziva asked and Gibbs smiled, reminded of the conversation while they investigated Chief Petty Officer Stoller's death.

"It had high stakes, Ziva. One whisper could ruin the entire thing," Gibbs explained and they stepped out into the garage. Picking an SUV, the three got in and headed towards the first name.

--

"Brian Xavier?" Gibbs asked and the man opened the door; this was the fourth name.

"Yes, Agent Gibbs?" Brian asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Do you know a Petty Officer Tatum Ashby?" Jethro asked and Brian shook his head.

"Her unit is located on the other side of base. I've only heard that she's a great officer and that her mom died recently," Brian said and Gibbs nodded.

"Thank you for you time," Ziva said and Brian waved slightly.

"Anytime," he said and closed his door. The trio walked back down the sidewalk and contemplated their next subject. Gibbs handed the list to DiNozzo, who randomly picked a name.

"How about Chief Petty Officer Xavier Crowley, he's only about a mile away?" Tony suggested and Gibbs contemplated the proposal. Walking to the SUV, he got in and the other two followed obediently.

"So I am guessing that we are going to Officer Crowley's?" Ziva asked and Jethro didn't say a word as they drove towards the next house.

--

Knocking on the door, Gibbs waited patiently for the officer to answer the door. Suddenly, a few locks disengaged and a man in his late twenties appeared in the doorway. "Can I help you?" he asked politely and Gibbs showed him the ID badge.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind," Gibbs said and the man nodded, complying with the on-site questioning. Ziva handed Xavier a picture of Officer Ashby and watched his expression carefully; there was minimal reaction.

"Officer Ashby; what about her?" he asked and that was his first mistake.

"You know her?" Tony asked and the man nodded.

"Sure, Tate and I used to hang out a lot on our off days. Is there something wrong?"

"She was murdered early this morning. We're just asking close friends if they noticed anything different lately," Ziva said and Xavier shook his head.

"I can't believe this…" he mumbled and Gibbs saw a flash of irritated flesh on the side of Crowley's neck, just below the ear.

"If you don't mind, we'd like to take you back for further questioning," Gibbs said, not letting Xavier know he had seen the red and aggravated skin; the man agreed.

"Sure, I was about to go out anyway, the groceries can wait," Xavier said, laughing lightly as he voluntarily went with the three agents.


	6. Chapter 6

NCIS

As they approached the building, Xavier became more subtly anxious; Ziva was the only one to take notice. Gibbs parked out front and the four got out and entered the building. Jethro was on his phone immediately and was connected to Director Vance's office. _"What do you have, Jethro?"_

"A suspect, you don't have to pull strings today, Leon."

"_Wow… and it only took you… four hours. Good job, Jethro," _the director said and Gibbs merely smirked as he entered the next elevator. Hanging up the phone, he called down to Abby's lab and got an immediate answer.

"_Yeah, Gibbs?"_ the bubbly voice asked.

"Is McGee there with you?" he asked and looked at what floor the elevator was on.

"_Yeah… hold on for a second. Tim, Gibbs wants to talk to you,"_ Abby said in the background and the phone transferred hands.

"_Yeah, boss?"_ McGee asked.

"Found anything else yet?"

"_We did get a boot print off the door and the bullet we got from Ducky is lined up for a test with a gun. Do you have a suspect?"_

"Yeah, he's with Tony and Ziva in the interrogation room. Get back to Chief Petty Officer Xavier Crowley's house and search for evidence we can hold against him," Gibbs ordered and the elevator doors opened on he right floor.

"_On it, boss."_ McGee hung up the phone first and Gibbs headed towards the questioning room.

--

McGee hung up the phone quickly and left Abby's lab just as quick. "Gotta go," he said simply and entered the elevator. Getting off at the right floor, he grabbed his pack and saw Tony waiting on him at the elevator.

"I see we get to hang out, _again_, McGeek," Tony said and Tim merely glowered at him for the nickname.

"At least I'm not involved with the witness this time."

"Ah, so you admit it! You actually _like_ Agent Stoller!" Tony jumped as the elevator doors closed, giving them some privacy to their argument.

"She's a _friend_, Tony, nothing more. She hangs out with Gibbs more than she does me," Tim said and DiNozzo gave a sour look of disgust. McGee sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger.

"They have _coffee_ together every now and again. We're so busy with cases that really only Gibbs has enough time to visit with her," Tim explained and Tony's expression faded into interest again.

"You're _jealous_, aren't you, McGeek? Wow, that's a new one on me… _jealous_ of Agent Gibbs." Tim almost growled at Tony for that remark.

"Drop it, Tony. We have got work to do," McGee said as they exited into the garage and got into an SUV.

----

The interrogation room was quiet until Gibbs entered the room with a stack of files. "Why am I here again?" Xavier asked and Jethro merely sat down across from Crowley.

"You're here because you want to be. Those groceries can wait, right?" Gibbs asked and Xavier winced at the obvious truth. Jethro opened the files and slid some pictures towards Xavier, making him cringe as he saw the photos.

"Is that the last you saw of Officer Ashby?"

"No, she was alive when I saw her last! I swear; we had just gone to a bar."

"_What_ bar, Officer Crowley?"

"Just some random bar that's on base; we both had some off time and she wanted to go out because she was bummed about her mom!" Xavier protested and Gibbs just looked at him calmly.

--

Tony lifted the pillow off the bed and saw a nine millimeter service pistol. "Looks like we hit the jackpot," he said and sealed the gun in an evidence bag. Tim prodded around in the closet when he felt the floor give under the light pressure. Raising an eyebrow, Tim pried gently and found a secret compartment underneath the closet floor. Opening the lid gently, Tim made sure there were no wires or alarms and finally pulled the lid off.

"No, Tony, I think _I_ found the jackpot," McGee said and Tony walked quickly over to his partner.

"Whoa… McGeek, you really did get the jackpot," DiNozzo said and took multiple pictures of the heroine that lined the small space. "There has to be two pounds of heroine in there." Packaging the drugs into a sealed bag, the two were soon looking for bloodied clothes and dumped the hamper onto the bed. Sorting through them quickly, they found a pair of jeans that had blood splatter on the cuff.

"Well, we found the gun, the drugs, and the clothes, let's get them back to Abby," McGee said and the two left the house with evidence in hand. Rushing to their vehicle, Tim called Ziva as they drove back to the lab.

"_Agent David,"_ Ziva answered and Tim began talking as fast as he could.

"Ziva, we found almost two pounds of heroine hidden in Xavier's house. We also found a service weapon and bloodied clothes. Keep him there as long as possible until we can get Abby to run tests on everything," Tim said and heard the interrogation in the background.

"_I will, McGee,"_ Ziva promised and hung up the phone.


	7. Chapter 7

NCIS

"So you have no idea how Officer Ashby ended up in this state?" Gibbs asked and kept going through the crime scene photos.

"No, I have no idea. I dropped her off at her apartment and then I went home!"

"Can anyone verify that?" Jethro asked and Crowley just stared down at the photos of Officer Ashby on the autopsy table.

"Why won't you believe me?" Xavier asked and Jethro pointed to his neck.

"Because that pepper spray irritation is the only thing throwing me off," Gibbs said and Xavier slapped a hand over the red skin that went from his ear to his shoulder. Jethro smirked as a tap came from the one-way glass. Standing, Gibbs gathered the files and let Crowley stew about what he had done as Jethro left the room.

Exiting the room, he ran into Ziva. "Tony and McGee found heroine and more evidence at Crowley's house. They're returning…" Tony and Tim exited the elevator and met the two in the hallway.

"I'm taking this to Abby," McGee said and went to the other elevator behind them. Gibbs watched him go and turned to the other two.

"Good work, DiNozzo," he said and followed McGee to the labs.

--

Abby sliced a piece of the jeans off and placed it in a small vial. Adding a few drops of liquid, she screwed a cap on and placed it in one of her many machines. Gibbs and McGee watched patiently, knowing that their time of holding Xavier was slowly ticking away. While she was waiting on the results from the jeans, Abby took the service weapon and tested it for blood; she found trace amounts buried in the textured grip. Grabbing another vial, she repeated the same process before checking the magazine. Taking it into the back room, Abby placed her ear protectors and goggles on.

Taking aim at the water, Abby slithered her hand down the pipe and fired off a round. Making sure it was safe, Abby switched on the safety and removed the magazine. Retrieving the bullet from the catch sieve, she rushed back to compare it to the bullet that Ducky had pulled from Petty Officer Ashby's body. Lining the striations up at 100x magnification, Abby smirked at herself and turned to look at McGee and Gibbs.

"The bullets are a match and…" The machine printed out the results from the blood, "And the blood is a match to Officer Ashby! We did it, Gibbs!" Abby said happily and Gibbs took the results up to the interrogation room; he was playing hardball now.

--

Exiting the elevator, Gibbs turned into the questioning room and placed the results on the table in front of Xavier; Tony and Ziva were watching from behind the glass. "Why did you do it, Crowley?" Gibbs asked and the man grumbled.

"She was following me around ever since she saw me hand something to one of my buddies!" Xavier growled and Jethro showed him a picture of the heroine; Xavier went white.

"Was it heroine that you were giving out?" Gibbs asked and Xavier ran a hand down his face, sighing as he did so.

"She knew too much. I was doing just fine, and she had to confront me about it. I told Tate to mind her own business, but she wouldn't listen."

"So you broke down her door, dragged her to the alley, made her kneel, and shot her execution style? What's wrong with you, Crowley?" Gibbs demanded and slammed the crime scene photos back onto the table.

"She got in the way…"

"That is the lowest excuse I have _ever_ heard," Jethro growled and stood from his chair to exit the room. Turning down the hallway, he returned to his desk and sighed; this had been a long day, but nothing compared to Petty Officer John Holly. "Killing a dog is lower than drugs," he mumbled and saw the sun setting.

----

McGee hugged Abby good night and the girl skipped happily with Ziva towards the elevator. "I guess I'm walking you to your car again, Abby?" Ziva asked and Abby just smiled at her friend as the two were sealed from sight as the elevator doors closed. The opposite elevators dinged on the other side and Gibbs saw Rhiana exit them, heading directly for McGee's station. Jethro raised a curious eyebrow; Rhiana had a nervous expression on her face as she stopped in front of Tim's desk; DiNozzo was too interested as he stopped typing and saw Rhiana.

"Ahem," Rhiana said quietly and McGee looked up from his report.

"Rhiana, what are you doing here? I thought you would have been home already?" Tim asked and Rhiana just smiled.

"Well, I was wondering… if you weren't too busy, if you'd have dinner with me." DiNozzo nearly choked on his gum and gagged into the trashcan beside him; Gibbs shot Tony a dirty look before returning to his reports. McGee glanced around Rhiana at Jethro and saw the approving look. Rhiana looked at Gibbs and smiled, gently shaking the coffee cup she had in her hands.

"Sure, I don't mind. Where are we going?" McGee asked and Rhiana smiled.

"I'd like it if you'd join me for some home cooking. I'm not a bad chef," Rhiana said and Tim gathered his things.

"That's sounds great," Tim said and the two walked to the elevators, Rhiana looping her arm through McGee's; Gibbs just smiled as Tony continued to gag in the background.


End file.
